The Victor Martyn Lynch-Staunton Awards are given for outstanding artistic achievement by Canadian mid-career artists in seven disciplines: Inter-Arts, Writing and Publishing, Music, Dance, Visual Arts, Media Arts and Theatre. Each winner receives $15,000. The Victor Martyn Lynch-Staunton Fund was established thanks to a generous bequest from Mr. Lynch-Staunton to the Canada Council in 1967.
The 2017 winners are:
Bruno Bouchard is a founder and active member of Théâtre Rude Ingénierie and the Orchestre d'hommes-orchestres. Musician, performer, tinkerer, and ideaman, he is fascinated by the interdisciplinary practices at the heart of an undisciplined process. His practice flits between research and production, with a focus on exploring, understanding and working with the “alchemy of disciplines” within a plurality of texts, creating free spaces and spending time in them until they come to life. He would like to celebrate receiving the award with his friends and colleagues of Théâtre Rude Ingénierie and the Orchestre d'hommes-orchestres, in recognition of their contribution to his practice development and the time they spend together on the playing field of art and life.
Yara El-Ghadban, a Quebecois novelist of Palestinian origin, has authored two novels: L’ombre de l’olivier(2011) and Le parfum de Nour (2015). She also co-wrote the essay Le Québec, la Charte, l’Autre. Et après? (2014). Her work has been published by Mémoire d’encrier. Also an anthropologist and ethnomusicologist, Yara El-Ghadban settled in Montréal in 1989 after a long migratory journey through Dubai, Buenos Aires, Beirut, Sanaa and London. She is President of the Espace de la diversité, and uses her way with words to address feminist and anti-racist issues: “Literature is a dialogue. Words have a duty to rebuild our view of the other.”
Kevin Lau’s music has been performed by major orchestras and ensembles all across Canada. From 2012-2015 he served as the Toronto Symphony Orchestra’s RBC Affiliate Composer. Recently, in collaboration with renowned dancer/choreographer Guillaume Côté, he composed the score for the National Ballet of Canada’s original full-length production of Le Petit Prince (2016) and the National Arts Centre Orchestra’s Dark Angels (2017). His music has been commercially released on several albums, including the JUNO-nominated “Spin Cycle” (Centrediscs) featuring the Afiara String Quartet and DJ Skratch Bastid. Kevin holds a doctoral degree in music composition from the University of Toronto.
Vladimir ''7Starr'' Laurore is a pioneer and leader in the Canadian Krump scene. In 2005, he co-founded the first Krump crew in Canada : Bzerk Squad. He is also the creator of the first major Krump event in the country : Gutta Zone. 7Starr has participated and been a guest competitor/judge in major competitions on both national and international level. He has worked with companies such as Cirque du Soleil, Cirque Eloize and Moment Factory to name few. 7Starr is also recognized for his discipline involvement in the community centers, underprivileged schools and charity organization. He is now president of the Montreal Krump Alliance, a non-profit organization that specializes in promoting the Krump culture across Canada.
Kevin Schmidt
Kevin Schmidt was born in Ottawa, Ontario, in 1972 and grew up in the suburbs of Vancouver. He completed a BFA in Fine Arts from Emily Carr University of Art + Design in 1997, continuing to live and work in Vancouver. His work subjectively examines spectacle via strategies of DIY re-creation and displacement. In 2016, after a 3-year period in Berlin, he moved to a rural location in the mountains near Heffley Creek, BC. Here he collaborates with his partner, the artist Holly Ward, on a project called The Domestead that explores cultural production from the periphery, while continuing his own independent practice.
Amanda Strong
Amanda Strong is an Indigenous (Michif) filmmaker, media artist and stop motion artist currently based in unceded Coast Salish territory, also known as Vancouver. She studied photography and illustration at Sheridan Institute and extended those mediums into creations in media arts. Amanda’s work looks into lndigenous lineage, language and unconventional methods of story-telling. Each film is a collaborative process with a multi-layered approach to aspects animation and the sonic spectrum. Her films have screened across the globe, most notably at Cannes, TIFF, VIFF, and Ottawa International Animation Festival. In 2013, Amanda was the recipient K.M. Hunter Artist Award for Film and Video, and received the 2016 Vancouver Mayors Arts Awards for Emerging Film and Media Artist. Most recently she was selected by renowned filmmaker Alanis Obamsawin to receive $50,000 in post-services through the Clyde Gilmour Technicolour Award.
Marcus Youssef’s plays have been performed in scores of communities in more than a dozen countries across North America, Australia and Europe, from Reykjavik to New York to Dublin to DC to Berlin. His most recent, King Arthur’s Night, co-written with Niall McNeil, will premiere at the Luminato Festival in Toronto in June. Awards include: Rio-Tinto Alcan Performing Arts, Chalmer's Canadian Play, Seattle Times Footlight, Arts Club Silver Commission, and Vancouver Critics' Choice (three times) as well as numerous local awards in Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal. Marcus is Artistic Director of Vancouver’s Neworld Theatre, co-founder of the artist-run production centre Progress Lab 1422, Senior Playwright in Residence at the Banff Playwrights Colony, editorial advisor to Canadian Theatre Review and a Canadian Fellow to the International Society of Performing Arts.
Bravo to the winners!
The 2017 Victor Martyn Lynch-Staunton Award winners were selected from the applicants to the Canada Council's various Grants to Professional Artists programs in 2016.
Source: Canada Council for the Arts
